How much energy does a PC actually consume? v.ughutilitiesbill

Just moved out to HI about two months ago and recently received a monthly utility bill for $130. We don't have heat or AC, or ceiling fan(s)...but me and the S/O do run our PCs constantly (me mainly seeding torrents...). my setup is intel dual core with a 650 watt psu...and the S/O has some Athlon XP+ with what i'd assume no more than 350 watt psu. Any ideas how much both of us running our computers on all the time make a difference? is it worth shutting them off when we don't use them?

depends on what you pay per kw/hr. Electricity here is cheap, so both my systems (1 core 2 quad and 1 old dual core p4) use about 8 bucks a month worth of power for the 2 of them, and that's running 24/7.

I suspect that you're paying a rather high rate for power. Any idea what it is? I'm paying 5.94cents per hw/hr.

You must have pay alot per kw/h. I live with 2 other guys in our house. I have a 26" lcd tv I use as my monitor and he has a 42" lcd tv as his monitor. We both also use a home theater receiver for sound which is left on almost 24/7. All 3 of us leave all of our computers on 24/7 just shutting the screens off when not in use.

We also leave our fan in the furnace on 24/7. All in all our utilitiy bill is usually $180. Thats including water.

It's not kW/hr. It's kW*hr. A kilowatt is a measurement of the rate of energy usage -- you have to multiply it by a period of time to get an actual quantity of energy.

1kW*hr could be energy used at a rate of 1kW over a period of an hour, or at a rate of .0014kW over a period of a month, or at a rate of 3,600,000kW over a period of a millisecond.

If you're using 48kW*hr a day, that means you're consuming energy at a rate of 2kW. That's not unreasonable for an apartment with two .5kW computers in it, plus other stuff like a microwave and a TV that never really shuts off.

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And yes, you're paying a lot for electricity. Everything is expensive in Hawaii, especially services that have an impact on the environment. The whole damn place is one big nature preserve, whether or not it's "official".

depends on what you pay per kw/hr. Electricity here is cheap, so both my systems (1 core 2 quad and 1 old dual core p4) use about 8 bucks a month worth of power for the 2 of them, and that's running 24/7.

I suspect that you're paying a rather high rate for power. Any idea what it is? I'm paying 5.94cents per hw/hr.

1. A ceiling fan is a wonderfully efficient way to cool a room. They barely use any power at all. I understand not having A/C, but in Hawaii? You got to get ceiling fans in. Worth every penny.

2. Back in the day.... I had a very small apartment. Incredibly small. I felt my utility bills where too high.
One thing I was doing was running my PC 24/7 to do distributed processing.
For an entire month I turned my PC off whenever I wasn't using it.
No lie. My electric bill dropped $20.
My living situation is completly different today. I still run the PC 24/7 to do distributed processing. But if the utility bill came into question turning off the PC would be the first thing I would do.

3. Lots of equiptment today use electricity when they are in an 'off' state. If you are turning off the PC when you are not using it, have no fans or AC running and are still having a problem try arranging electrical cords so it is simple to unplug stuff when you are not using them. Just do an inventory of what really doesn't need to be plugged in when you are not using them. TV's, microwaves, etc.

1. A ceiling fan is a wonderfully efficient way to cool a room. They barely use any power at all. I understand not having A/C, but in Hawaii? You got to get ceiling fans in. Worth every penny.

2. Back in the day.... I had a very small apartment. Incredibly small. I felt my utility bills where too high.
One thing I was doing was running my PC 24/7 to do distributed processing.
For an entire month I turned my PC off whenever I wasn't using it.
No lie. My electric bill dropped $20.
My living situation is completly different today. I still run the PC 24/7 to do distributed processing. But if the utility bill came into question turning off the PC would be the first thing I would do.

3. Lots of equiptment today use electricity when they are in an 'off' state. If you are turning off the PC when you are not using it, have no fans or AC running and are still having a problem try arranging electrical cords so it is simple to unplug stuff when you are not using them. Just do an inventory of what really doesn't need to be plugged in when you are not using them. TV's, microwaves, etc.

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Which is basically all the stuff I said. Maybe it won't go completely over everyone's heads this time.

You can get dimmable CFLs, but they are going to run you about $10+ each.

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The better solution is to have regular CFLs that provide what you would call "dim" lighting, and have dimmable incandescents to provide the range between "dim" and "bright". You don't really want CFLs to provide all the lighting anyway; the quality sucks compared to incandescents.

The better solution is to have regular CFLs that provide what you would call "dim" lighting, and have dimmable incandescents to provide the range between "dim" and "bright". You don't really want CFLs to provide all the lighting anyway; the quality sucks compared to incandescents.

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I have a house full of CFLs and the only ones that arent as good are the big globe ones that go above the bathroom mirror

I have a house full of CFLs and the only ones that arent as good are the big globe ones that go above the bathroom mirror

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I guess you don't have sensitive eyes then. I get massive headaches from fluorescent bulbs, if they're the only thing on in the room, even if there's more than one, which is supposed to prevent the flickering effect from being visible.

Needless to say, I'm not pleased about the idea of making incandescents illegal.

The combination of CFLs and halogens is really the way to go. The CFLs provide a base layer of cheap illumination for the room, and the halogens provide relatively-efficient bright light in the areas that need it.

I guess you don't have sensitive eyes then. I get massive headaches from fluorescent bulbs, if they're the only thing on in the room, even if there's more than one, which is supposed to prevent the flickering effect from being visible.

Needless to say, I'm not pleased about the idea of making incandescents illegal.

The combination of CFLs and halogens is really the way to go. The CFLs provide a base layer of cheap illumination for the room, and the halogens provide relatively-efficient bright light in the areas that need it.